Last Time for You're In Charge to be offered at $25 for this crucial four-hour workshop

Make beautiful and fun books for friends, family...The World!
Catch this useful and really inexpensive class the LAST time it will be offered for a cheap price.

You’re in Charge: PODs, Blogs, & eBooks: Learn about digital publishing (blogs, PODs, and eBooks). Digital tips help students spend little, earn well. 12/3  Saturday 10am-2pm                       $25

SHORELINE CC PLUS 50    16101 Greenwood Ave. North                Call  206-533-6706

OR show up at room 1401 on the day with a $25 check written to Shoreline Community College.

Fall classes

Note the really inexpensive classes at Shoreline CC!
All those who have wanted to do the Storywheel Writing Lab--It's happening at Cascadia this quarter!
Don't miss it!  Ariele

Fall  2016             WRITING CLASSES                           Ariele M. Huff

EDMONDS Senior Center       220 Railroad Ave, Edmonds                                      206-361-6733

Writer’s Round Table  9/30, 10/14 & 28, 11/18, 12/2 & 16 (6 Fri) 12:45-3pm    $12 per session   

GREENWOOD Senior Center                     525 North 85th in Seattle                      206-361-6733

Write About Your Life       9/29-12/8  (10 Th)     1:15-3:15 pm                    $70  (or $10 drop-in)

Shoreline/Lk Forest Park Senior Center   18560 1^st Ave. NE Suite #1                     206-365-1536

Write about Your Life   10/4-12/6  (10 Tues) 10am-noon                 $12 members, $14 nonmembers

Mountlake Terrace Senior Center     23000 Lakeview Drive                                    425-672-2407

Ongoing Writing Group           Wednesdays 10am-noon                                                         $10 per session

SHORELINE CC PLUS 50    16101 Greenwood Ave. North                                    206-533-6706

Get Rich, $tay Rich Make money your friend & servant. Learn simple ways to become the richest person you know. This easy class is a step-by-step guide to bettering your life & circumstances—a Money Makeover. Wealth is within your grasp 10/25-11/15  (4 Tuesdays) 6-8:30pm                       $25

A Gathering Place for the Widowed and Divorced  Share your stories & coping strategies in a safe & understanding environment with others who have suffered the same loss. We'll look at methods to work with grief & loss. The instructor has written Processing Loss Workbook, taught many Processing Loss Workshops, and has been widowed and divorced.  11/19    10am – 2pm Saturday        $15

You’re in Charge: PODs, Blogs, & eBooks: Learn about digital publishing (blogs, PODs, and eBooks). Digital tips help students spend little, earn well. 12/3  Saturday 10am-2pm                       $25

EVERETT COMMUNITY COLLEGE  www.everettcc.edu/ccec (Seaway Blvd)       425-267-0150

Online classes: eBooks Start to Finish, Write About Your Life, Freelance Writing, Writing for Children, Character Development, Commas to Comments: Edit Your Own Writing, Creating a Selling Novel, Selling Your Nonfiction Book and Travel Writing,.    10-session classes                $99

Writing With Style: Contest judges, publishers, agents, & editors know the secrets of good writing go far beyond basic elements. Tone, mood, point of view, theme, word choices, & sentence variety are part of it. Learn to push the near winner across the finish line. Discover layers of meaning that draw readers like moths to a flame & how to polish your projects till they sparkle. 9/24  10am-2pm   $55

Anyone Can Write: If you can talk, you can write. Learn the elements of fiction and nonfiction, how to turn your life into text and poetry, and how your reading can improve your writing. Novice to experienced writers will enjoy the fun, nonjudgmental atmosphere and unique exercises in this class.   11/5   10am -2pm                      $55

CASCADIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE      www.cascadia.edu/cced                      425-267-0150

STORYWHEEL WRITING LAB: Writers of all skill levels/genres explore & expand talents through writing practice in an experiential workshop. Creative output is stimulated in a supportive, nonjudgmental environment while students use a storywheel to complete a piece of writing through character, plot, scene, dialogue, & theme development. A fun class to get you writing &/or increase your output. 9/28-11/2 ( 6 Weds) 6:30-8pm   $99

Anyone Can Write: If you can talk, you can write. Learn the elements of fiction and nonfiction, how to turn your life into text and poetry, and how your reading can improve your writing. Novice to experienced writers will enjoy the fun, nonjudgmental atmosphere and unique exercises in this class.   10/8   10am -2pm                      $55

*MORE ONLINE CLASSES (done directly with me): Fiction Series, Feature Writing, Write to Inspire, Humor Writing, The Art of Storytelling, Self Portrait Books, Basics for Writers II, Writing with Style, Good Things, Build a Book, Life Map, Portrait Books, Storywheel Writing, Exploring Poetry, Write from the Heart, Short Story Writing, Early Authors, Herstory, Neighborhoods, Guilty Pleasures, Literary Methods, Character Development, The Plot Thickens, Processing Loss with Writing, The Joy Diet, Joyous Ruminations, Writing Winning Letters & E-mails, Becoming an Editor, Technical Writing & Editing, The Writers Journey, Write to Grow. $100 for 10 sessions—Tech Writing & Early Authors (4), Writers Journey (12).  

Contact Ariele: ariele@comcast.net       Website http://arielewriter.myfreesites.net      Phone: 206-361-6733

Blogs:  http://writerswingsbyariele.blogspot.com and http://fiftyshadesofgraying.blogspot.com/ 

NW Prime Time’s website, I host Sharing Stories.  LOCAL section: http://northwestprimetime.com/

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Creative Writing Exercises

I've been giving readers of Writing Corner (my column at Northwest Prime Time) the chance to do some Creative Writing Lab exercises along with my students in an onsite class.

Feel free to join in and send me your exercises too!  (See lots of Sharing Stories pieces by my students and other writers at http://www.northwestprimetime.com. Put "Sharing Stories" in the search function.) Send pieces to me at ariele@comcast.net.

Creative Writing Lab Two

    Fiction and nonfiction writing are alike in many ways. Fiction has five elements: Character, Setting, Theme, Plot, and Dialogue. Nonfiction has seven: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, and Quotes. So, they have exactly the same elements. Who and What are Character; When and Where are Setting; Why is Theme; How is Plot; and Quotes are Dialogue. Learn the basics of either fiction or nonfiction, and you have a lot to bring to the other one.

   Also, both fiction and nonfiction require sounding authentic AND being interesting or entertaining. Another similarity—the writing process for each has the same stages: Brainstorming, Outlining, Researching, Rough Drafting, Revision, Editing, and Proofreading. (“Research” can be recalling your own experiences or things you’ve heard.)

   Lefthand Freedom is the homework for this second class. It is a simple exercise, but you will probably be amazed at the results. This works best if your time for doing it is not limited and you do not feel at all rushed.

     A large sheet of tag board works best for this and a crayon or felt-tip pen are preferable to pencil or fine-tip pens. A wide-tip writing implement is best.

     Write using your non-dominant hand: the left hand for right-handed people and the right hand for left-handed writers. 

      A simple, narrative topic or first line gets the flow going. For women, I always use, "Once upon a time there was a princess who lived in a castle."  For men, "Once upon a time there was a prince who journeyed to a castle." For further experiments, sample other simple starting sentences.

     Take your time to form legible letters as you create a story or essay. Although this may seem frustrating at first, the slowing down of your hand will, most likely, connect your mind to some unique ways of approaching the topic. Most people who try this exercise find using their non-dominant hand somehow makes their writing more intuitive and insightful. This may be caused by slowing down and concentrating on the physical aspect of forming letters carefully or because the non-dominant hand may relate to the creative side of the brain. Studies show that the latter has some scientific truth.

    STUDENT EXAMPLE: Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived in a castle. She was lonely so she sent for the wizard who told her, “Be calm, my child, for you are the one—the light and the love of the world.” “But, I need people,” she cried. “Your need is satisfied if you bring it to be.”And lo and behold, the prince, who had been sleeping, awoke to her need.

    Left Hand Freedom often betrays truths we’ve even been hiding from ourselves. Sometimes people recognize that when reading the exercises, but sometimes, listeners tell them—like with the woman who wrote the example!

     Have fun! If you send 250 words or less of your homework, you might get published in Writing Corner or Sharing Stories.  Send to Northwest Prime Time or ariele@comcast.net.  

    A reader’s lefthand freedom exercise from the second session of Creative Writing Lab:

Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived in a castle. Her privilege was great, her treasures many, but still she was lonely.

    She wandered the castle halls looking for somebody who'd like her for who she was instead of the crown she wore. The princess found herself in the dungeon where she heard sad moaning and wailing coming from all but one chamber. 

    Through the bars in its heavy door, she saw a dirty young prisoner singing happily. She thought him addled until he spoke.

    "Fair princess, what brings you here? Aren't you afraid I might steal the jewels from your innocent brow?"

    His impertinence caught her imagination, and for a moment, she held hope that here was the one she sought. Then the reality of his position fueled her words.

    "How dare you speak to me thusly?" Even though the princess had regained her royal posture, her heart fluttered madly as she awaited his answer.

    "My lady," he mockingly began. "Come morning, your father's men will take my life, yet they'll never have my freedom. But you—you're forever imprisoned by the blood coursing through your veins." Jeri Haubiel: Thank you for the challenge; I truly enjoyed it.

 Ariele Huff is doing a new Write about Your Life group at Shoreline/Lake Forest Park Senior Center. It meets on Tuesdays from 10/4 to 12/6 at 10am to noon. Hope to meet you there! Contact me at ariele@comcast.net or call the center 206-365-1536.

Question about Theme

Question received from Ann Day:
I want to make my theme stronger in a novel. Any hints about that?  
     Yes, Ann. Many people aren't aware how important theme is...or how many methods there are to show what the theme of a story or novel are. Theme is an element of fiction that includes mood,  tone, and voice. Below are some of the ways to work your central theme into your novel.

Theme: Point of the story prompted by the author’s viewpoint, values, and beliefs.  Theme reflects an opinion, not a fact.  The world is just or unjust, people are basically good or basically bad, selfish or unselfish, life is random or not. Theme equals the morals at the end of fables.

*Theme can be expressed through action & events.  EX: natural disaster, which can present a theme of human frailty or nature’s indifference to humans. EX: a journey, which equals learning experiences (Huck Finn on the river & journeying to less racist ideas, Moby Dick, etc.)

*Theme can be expressed through symbolism—a literal object that agrees with the theme: concrete to abstract.  EX: a decaying house representing decaying morals.  A clock ticking in a story about how quickly or slowly time passes. 

*Theme can be expressed through imagery: descriptive & figurative language, & word choices.  EX: adjectives, word pictures, verb choices.  The hero described as positive and attractive, the villain as the opposite. Verbs that connote negative or positive meaning—“she slashed at the fragile plants” or “she pruned away the dead branches.”

*Theme can be expressed through character.  To find the theme, ask these questions about the main character: Has s/he learned anything?  What?  How has this knowledge changed him/her?

Mood – the atmosphere of the story’s “little world” that combines the effect of the setting, characters, theme, plot, & dialogue.

Tone – The attitude expressed by the piece that shows how the author feels using setting, characters, theme, plot, & dialogue.  Sometimes tone shows how a main character feels, especially if s/he is narrating in 1^st person like an author. 

*Setting choices that influence tone and mood include kind of architecture (castle, cottage, office bldg.), weather, props (flowers or plants, furnishings, animals, geologic features, foods, smells, sounds, tastes, textures).  Contrasting settings works to emphasize mood too.

*Character sets—by evoking reader feelings: dislike, admiration, fear, anger, sympathy. 

*Language use adds to tone and mood through sentence length: short equals movement and excitement while long and flowing equals peaceful or hindered feeling.  Uncommon sentence structure can be used for effect—fragments, lists, run-ons.  Vocabulary can create an informal or formal feel.  Long, expressive words are about feelings and emotions while short, simple words are about action.  Similes and metaphors evoke feelings. EX: fragrant as a rose OR carcass of an old car.  Even punctuation, dashes, exclamation points, quotes, can show tone/mood.  EX: to show scorn sometimes–He felt “poorly.” 

Voice – a term used in literary criticism to identify the sense a written work conveys to a reader of its writer’s attitude, personality, and character.  As in the case with the closely related term TONE, VOICE reflects the habit of thinking of writing as a mode of speech.  Inexperienced writers are often instructed to “get more of your own voice into your writing.”  The concept of voice is sometimes compared to Aristotle’s concept of ethos, the personal image projected by an orator.  The main difference I see between voice and tone is that tone refers to a specific piece and can change between pieces.  EX:  Dickens “tone” in The Christmas Carol is angry, while in The Old Curiosity Shop it is sad.  His voice is strongly humanitarian and does not change between pieces and books, though he chooses to bring it out differently and in varying levels, depending on the focus of the book. The Christmas Carol is inspirational and fun while The Old Curiosity Shop is early dystopian or naturalist genre (where everything ends badly, especially for the main character).

Any more specific questions, Ann?  

Let me know and thanks for bringing your question to me at the writers blog!

Ariele